Railway Freight Traffic On The Rebound
Railway freight traffic, which dipped in the last quarter of 1996-97, has started looking up in the initial months of the current fiscal.
The freight movement in April was to the tune of 33.24 million tonnes as compared with 31.45 million tonnes in the corresponding month of the previous year, an increase of 1.79 million tonnes. Compared with the target of 33 million tonne set for the month, the increase is 0.24 million tonne.
In this, coal accounted for 16.95 million tonnes. The movement of raw materials for steel plants was to the tune of 3.01 million tonnes and that of finished iron and steel from steel plants came to 0.92 million tonne.
Movement of other major commodities in the month was as follows: iron ore for export (0.71 million tonne), cement (2.8 million tonnes), foodgrains (2.13 million tonnes), fertilisers 1.61 million tonne; petroleum, oil and lubricant (POL) (2.39 million tonnes) and other goods 2.72 million tonnes.
Officials say the April performance could have been better but for the truckers' strike which continued for 10 days. This severely affected the goods movement by road to and from the loading/unloading points.
As for May, the figures are still being compiled, but the trend of wagon deployed for the purpose could given an idea of the overall trend.
In May, officials say, the railways handled about 3,000 more wagons a day than it did on an average last year. This has aroused hopes that the total tonnage moved in May could be two million tonne more than the May last year's level of 32.79 million tonnes.
A disconcerting feature, however, is that the movement of iron and steel materials continues to be depressed this year too. In 1995-96, the total tonnage of iron and steel moved by the railways came to 12.05 million tonnes, while in 1996-97 also it was practically at the same level.
In fact, the quantum actually went down to 12 million tonne, down by 0.05 million tonne despite the fact that the steel production has gone up.
This is an area of serious concern for the railways. It could only mean that the steel plants might be finding it more economical and convenient to send the goods by road which may have come more competitive, first after the rail freight hike in July last year and a second hike in February this year, both coming in the same fiscal.
The exact cause of this stagnation in steel movement by rail is under examination at the Rail Bhavan
The railways have decided to offer incentives and rebates so that the steel movement by rail picks up as early as possible. The target set of movement of iron and steel in 1997-98 is 15 million tonnes, which is expected to net Rs 1,412 crore against Rs 1,190 crore in 1996-97. But, some other core sector commodities such as fertiliser, cement and petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL), which also contributed to the freight traffic shortfall last year, did much better in April-May.
According to official sources, movement of fertiliser in May was on an average at the rate of 2,981 wagons a day compared with 1,787 in May last year